


Summer Storms

by PhylaLayla



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Chris comes home just to the right time and comforts the puppy, M/M, Nivanfield, PTSD, Post-RE6, flasbacks, rainy summer days, reliving the HAOS incident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 23:50:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9408179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhylaLayla/pseuds/PhylaLayla
Summary: Piers is left to face his new, worst fear ever since what happened in China. Luckily he´s not alone with it anymore. And never will be again.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Did have this baby rotting on my computer for quite a while now, so I finally managed to dish it out for you guys... before RE7 comes out...  
> We all know, Nivanfeels are sometimes a dark and horrible place, so...

**Summer Storms**

 

_20th of June 2014, 1600 hours_

It started with a few droplets on the grass in Chris´ garden. If he wouldn´t have been so less of a man he would have brushed it off and kept gardening like he had been doing the whole day. But he was damaged. Things that seemed easy before the incident were now impossible for him to do. Upon looking up at the sky, he saw these dark clouds approaching and that gave everything away. It was gonna rain, heavily.

As soon as he realized he was close to panicking. Of course a way too exaggerated reaction for any other person. For a normal person. Just in time he managed to sprint over to the porch which had a little roof over it before it started coming down. He spun around, looking at the scene before him.

_Splash Splash_

"..." He watched the water impact with the ground again and again. The sound of it was so loud and the clouds had suddenly covered the sun, making everything look like it was late evening already. The weather´s report said it would stay sunny the whole day... fucking bastards...

It was the hydrophobia. It was unreasonable. It was stupid.

He had troubles ripping himself off that image of the grass getting soaked and little ponds forming in the middle of their lawn. But he had to. It could potentially trigger something he was not ready for right now. The door in front of him, leading inside, never felt that heavy and difficult to shove open. In summer it usually stood wide open in daytime but this time he turned around, closed and actually locked it. The motion felt so foreign but it helped drowning out the sounds coming from outside.

But it was too late, he was there again.

_The massive creature got a hold of the huge steel gate that was just about to close behind them. Ripping it open and creating an opening in the progress that allowed tons of water breaking in with it, gushing into his face. For a moment he panicked, his legs desperately trying to find something as leverage, to step on, to push himself out of the water. The panic attack never came as it spread out into the wide-open room and in the end wasn´t even covering the ground in a few inches._

_Desperately he collected himself and his composure. This thing refused to die! Keep it cool, Nivans... he looked over to the Captain who pushed himself up without missing a beat._

_Piers´ eyes wandered over to the thing they found out was called Haos in a flash. Ada certainly had a weird way of naming her creations._

Ada... When in reality it had been Carla Radames. The BSAA made their research, found information on this young, female student, working under Simmons, who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. In the presence of this man she should have stayed away from. Somehow, Piers mused, he could understand this woman´s behavior but it did not justify her erasing their fucking squad... twice.

Ada Wong confirmed the speculations and squished the last doubts. For her cooperation the BSAA let the warrant, that was running on her since the events in East Slav Republic, slide. No one saw her again ever since. Maybe Leon... who knew.

His forehead slowly came to rest on the door and his empty eyes were unable to focus on anything as the tapping of the rain outside grew more frantic. He had to get away from the backdoor, maybe upstairs...

_Haos leaped at Chris. It was so close to actually getting to him. His body started to act on his own, rejecting to listen to his brain that couldn´t get a real thought anyway. Piers found strength in his muscles that wasn´t there a second before, adrenaline pushing away the exhaustion. His feet found support even on this slippery ground and he half staggered, half sprinted towards his partner, throwing himself the last few steps with his whole body weight against his superior. Chris fell and Piers´ body replaced his._

_The pain was instant. The beast grabbed his arm, pulling him up with it. He immediately felt his shoulder dislocating, caused by his whole body weight hanging on one arm. That alone might not have been the cause, but the momentum, the way it thrashed him around..._

_Piers screamed out loud. "Piers!" Chris´ voice was so distant for him, even though he knew he had been calling him loud and clear. He heard gun shots, Chris was shooting it..._

The hallway never seemed so long. It stretched in front of him like in some kind of horror movie, he thought shuddering. He left the kitchen behind him, walked past the living room and come to a stop in front of the stairway.

"Ugh..." Piers clutched his shoulder like in reflex, like the flashback reminded him of the pain. Steadily breathing, he used the technique his doctors taught him and slowly, taking one step at the time, making his way upstairs.

_That had been a bad idea, but no one could have known... Haos cried out as the bullets broke it´s wobbly skin. Piers was barely conscious at the time. But the moment the BOW slammed him across the room like some baseball, he became clear once more and realized he probably wouldn´t survive this. He braced for the impact but it still didn´t prepare him for the pain when his back connected forcefully with the wall. He heard a crack._

_He slid down and Piers actually thought it would be over now but no... the moment the debris pierced through his shoulder, he couldn´t hold it anymore. He screamed out all his pain. A method to keep himself awake. His vision became blurry but his eyes still frantically looked for Chris._

_"Piers!" He was running over to him but as Piers squinted his eyes he could make out Haos behind him. Blurry, but it looked like... it was ready to throw something. It did._

_It was clearly aimed at Chris but he managed to dodge and once again it was coming for him. He thought he haven´t had anymore air to scream as it impacted, once more, with his shoulder, his lungs so raw, no tone came out anymore._

_Haos screamed, as if it had enough and clawed at Chris, this time managed to get a grip on him and Piers swallowed down the blood threatening to spill out of his mouth. Chris... needed him. He needed a few more seconds to get his brain working again but as he could make out Haos´ grip tightening and Chris actually spitting blood, it was settled._

_With all the determination he still had, he threw himself forwards, towards the BOW and his Captain. Something ripped Piers realized, but he had long lost all feeling in his right side. It was all just one big pain._

_The C-virus strain, he had carried with him, flew out of his pocket hence to the momentum and came to a stop right there, a few meters in front of him as to tease him. He had to._

_That was his only thought as he looked one more time over to his Captain._

He pushed open the door of the shared bedroom and dropped on the bed, shaking. His shoulder was hurting so bad, he nearly clawed down so hard into it that he swore it would draw blood... and the scars started glowing blue again.... The virus knew he was thinking of it. The little motherfucker...

As if a PTSD attack alone wasn´t enough, the virus knew and mocked him. Picked up on it and made it worse, wanting to break him.

Piers grunted in pain as bioelectricity came climbing up, trying his best to suppress it as good as he could and let it out in small intervals, creating little flashes of light that danced over the bed sheets. The buzzing in his ears was killing him. He anxiously remembered the last time he caused a power cut.

He pressed his face into the bed sheets on Chris´ side in a desperate attempt to calm his body down. Chris´ scent was ever present. It was like a switch that you flip off.

"Huh..." He moaned relieved as the virus shut up instantly. The color in the scars fading, the electricity vanishing. Why it just did that with Chris Redfield, Piers did not know. He liked to romanticize it and say the virus sensed that he loved him. But the doctors kept saying that the virus is unpredictable so Piers gave up trying to understand it.

His muscles gave up under him the first time he tried to sat up again, making his face once more collide with the bed. At the second attempt he succeeded.

He was rewarded with the sight out of the balcony. The rain was even here. His eyes widened as he heard the familiar tapping on the glass and even, now that he concentrated, from the roof above him. Maybe he should have just stayed downstairs in the living room, watching some stupid action DVD and turned up the volume. It would have made a better idea.

But now he found himself frighteningly staring at the water before him. It was the same image... the water running down the glass, the sound of it hitting it in front of you. Like in the jet they flew in, just before they arrived at the underwater oilfield. Just before everything went to shit. The storm had been bad and Chris had trouble flying it. They might as well could have died in the storm beforehand...

_The little capsule felt so insignificant in his hand. More so when you realized how it actually should feel with it´s dangerous load._

_Without a second thought he rammed it in the bleeding mess that was once his arm. From this distance he couldn´t tell if Chris was still conscious. He didn´t move in Haos´ grasp, he could already be dead. If that was the case, he thought grimly, at least they would die together down here._

_That was the last thought Piers could make out somewhere in his mind before it went black._

_His lights went out and he seriously thought that was the end before he came to it again. The virus was doing something to him. Even if it has been moments and he wasn´t yet a mutating, grunting mess, the virus was working._

_That was there he was wrong, because he did mutate. In an instant, the virus seemed to have adapted and rapidly created new flesh and muscle, wrapping around and replacing the last remains of his right arm._

_The pain was so unbearable, he almost did not feel it anymore. But the next problem encountered him and sleepily he thought how he would battle that thing. The virus was talking to him, he was sure of it. Otherwise he couldn´t explain his idea to just raise his arm at it. Seriously, that was all he did, the virus knew how to do the rest. The bioelectricity was causing the worst stinging feeling in his gut. The pain was already horrible as it was._

_Chris grunted in pain, Piers was sure he got shocked as well. It was hard taking steps, so in the end he was glad to see Chris getting up and approaching him on his own._

_"Oh god, Piers, what did you do?!" Captain´s voice was so panicked, even though barely a whisper. Shocked, desperate, sat, angry, all in one and it shook Piers to the core. But it was too late to go back now._

_"I´m still... me.", he tried to assure his commanding officer even if he did not believe himself one bit. Chris was now standing right in front of him, looking him up and down, disbelieving. His hand hovered there, right over his mutated arm but not touching. And never would as they heard the carnal growling behind them._

_Turning towards the source, Haos had once again recovered from the attack and stood up tall._

_"Why won´t it die?!" Chris uttered in total frustration. "No time... n-now...to talk..." Piers muttered and looked down at himself. This was it, he´d have to make this work._

_Next to him, he heard Chris reloading his gun. "You have to fight it... You hear me, you have to stay in control...!" But staying in control was not an option, Piers knew and deep down Chris did too. He was willing enough to go and try keeping it together as long as Haos was still a threat but after that... He was tired and exhausted. Not the best conditions to stay awake and clear in mind. The last sleep he got was in the chopper before they deployed to China and that was barely 2 hours. Every charge and release got him arching in pain, his breath coming shorter and more ragged. But Haos got it worse._

_He lost all sense of time and even if he wanted to say, he had no clue how long the fight went on. Might have been 5 or 50 minutes, he simply couldn´t tell anymore. At the end of it he could barely stand. He waited patiently for Haos to drop first before letting his resolve crumble._

_"Piers..." But Chris was at his side faster, supporting him and wandering his worried gaze all over him._

_"Come on! Just stay with me! You´re gonna be okay!" It was hard to even understand Chris´ words but he concentrated as good as he could. "I´m sorry... Cap-tain..." He forced out. "I did it for the BSAA... For the future." If only he could tell Chris that-... "I know, you did a real good thing..." But it was too late for that now. Maybe it was better this way. Piers Nivans´ mission was to bring the lost Captain of Alpha Team back and protect him through the hardships his amnesia brought. And he accomplished that. Chris returned to his rightful place, memories restored and all. He saved him... in more way than one._

_"As long as you-..." "I don´t wanna hear it!" -don´t forget about me and keep fighting the good fight, he ended in his mind. A hand came to rest on the back of his head, it was weird. He always craved physical attention, any attention really, from Chris but right now, looking like this, he was just disgusted at himself and the fact that Chris was even considering bringing his fingers somewhere near him in this state._

_"We´re both getting out of here...! Alright?!" Doubt it, Piers thought and a dry, humorless smile appeared on his torn and bleeding lips. But for now he´d play the part of the good soldier, knowing that Chris wouldn´t look for an exit without him. So he nodded._

_"...Let´s go!" The longer it took the more Piers lost faith and to add to all that, the lab had started falling apart randomly. His troubles breathing got worse and he started falling behind. Chris slowed down his pace as well, pretending it was normal. But Piers was holding him back. Goddamn it... there was no sense in both of them dying down here. In addition to that voices reached his ears that obviously weren´t there. Voices that would tell him things like "Kill him" and "It would be easy, you know?"._

_The virus. It kept pushing him. And Piers had no idea how long he could just brush it off. "You´re not like him anymore, not human. He´s your enemy now, end him!" It took control fast as a wave of burning, hot electricity once more charged in his right half. Panicking, Piers realized that the virus was getting ready to assault Chris who was just running a few steps in front of him. He did what was the easiest for him now, anyways. Throwing himself at the ground, burying his infected arm beneath his body, shielding it from Chris. Said man heard the painful, grunting noise behind him and whirled around to his protege._

_"Piers!" He crossed the distance in a few powerful strides and kneeled down, just watching for a moment. "Dammit..." Piers´ form was so horrible mangled, it was hard to recognize him as the shining sniper ace he once was. Once again he wanted to touch him but Piers snatched his arm away. "Just go!" he snarled. The first burst of the virus´ rage was blown off, it was silent now but that wouldn´t hold on for long. "No! You´re gonna be okay!" Chris´ voice was stern, his commanding tone which wouldn´t take any bullshit from no one. It made Piers flinch. How was Chris so fine?! So collected, still... Piers mused, it was the adrenaline. For his part, it had long worn off and he just wanted to... get some shuteye, even though knowing the risk of giving in to the black coziness._

_"We´re almost there!" He continued and wouldn´t leave him alone, a dark corner of Piers´ mind grunted offended, as he wrapped his arm around Piers´ frame and pushed them both upright. He had to admit, he was giving no effort, Chris practically kept them both on their feet._

_Agonizingly slow the door in front of them slid open to reveal the sight on their reward. "The escape pods!" Chris released a breath of long-held air. He was being shoved onto that bench and Chris´ voice wasn´t even audible in his ears anymore. "You see that? We´ll be out of here in no time!" Piers just nodded, didn´t matter what Chris said. He busied himself on the control panel and the moment Piers laid eyes on him he made up his mind. Chris would go alone. Chris Redfield had always been his idol, a hero and a legend. Knowing Chris would be fine after this was enough. Every help for him would come too late. His 'arm' had started moving on it´s own again. Reminding him how much the virus had already progressed in his body._

_The badge on his left unmutated side was putting up less of a fight than he thought it would. Then again ripping it off with your teeth wasn´t how you were supposed to do it. But his right hand was kinda occupied. He dropped it into the other one._

_"Come on...Got it!" Captain exclaimed next to him and it was loud enough that Piers picked up on the foggy sound in his head. The metallic pod opened with a low squeal and Chris approached him, a relieved smile barely on his lips. He had found hope._

_I hate to do this to you but..._

_"Here we go, Piers, we´re getting out of here..." He outstretched his left hand and the otherwise so detail orientated sniper did not even register it as he rested his palm in Chris´. Once again Chris pulled him up all by himself and slowly made his way over to the-_

_"Kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him!"_

_Piers´ presence next to him was suddenly gone. Like it had never been there to begin with. The only change was the light pressure in his hand where Piers´ had been resting. He took a quick peak and his expression shifted to utterly confusion._

_Why would you give me-...?_

_Their eyes met and in this instant Chris understood. Piers made his decision. But it wasn´t the one Chris was hoping for. That´s it, his eyes seemed to say and Chris searched for words in his mind. Hell, he should just throw him over his shoulder and-_

_For the first time Chris felt Piers´ advanced strength. It wasn´t human anymore. Otherwise Piers would have never managed to send him flying backwards into the pod with just one shove. The door fell shut behind him, allowing no more turning back. Despite knowing the inevitable end of this story Chris refused to accept it. "Piers, no, don´t do this!" he yelled and threw himself against the glass. It didn´t budge. "Open the door!" he kept pleading and Piers started to be thankful for his sinking ability to hear the sounds around him. It was very calming, almost like falling asleep as the whole world around him lost it´s irritating noise._

_"Goddammit, listen to me!" became a silent movement on Chris´ lips. "We can still both get outta here, there´s still time!" Nothing. Reaching his ears. No regrets, no guilt, he could lie the words into Chris´ mouth like they comforted him._

_'I can understand...' and 'Don´t worry, I´ll be fine...' sounded much nicer anyway. He smiled, thinking how that was certainly not what he was saying but just pretending changed everything for him in these final moments. He turned towards the lever and stumbled the last few meters into his destiny. He could sleep soon._

_"What are you doing?"_

_"No, Piers, don´t!"_

_"You can still make it out!"_

_"Goddammit, Piers!"_

_His last reserves died with the effort of leaning against the lever until it gave out under the weight and activated. The flashing red light, that signaled soon departure, hurt his vulnerable eyes. "No! Piers, open the goddamn door, that's an order!" The infected sniper stumbled back to his original place. The virus´ control was terrifying. If the glass wouldn´t shield Chris, Piers wasn´t sure he wouldn´t be dead by now. Following him into that capsule would have set an end to them both. It was better that way._

_"No..." He couldn´t hear him but something made him look up neither the less. They still had to say goodbye... The hurt in Chris´ eyes was destroying Piers from the inside more than his wounds ever could. There was still so much to say. But he couldn´t word them, whether from his bad condition or the pure destructiveness of the situation, he couldn´t place it._

_In the end the escape pod started without him doing anything but shaking his head towards Chris. It was over. He needed him to know that._

_"Piers!" It reached his ears and he wished it didn´t. Chris was disappearing fast from his view and he took a deep breath, feeling his lungs burn from the mutation they went through._

_How Haos wasn´t dead by now he couldn´t explain, as he saw it chasing in the direction the pod went but he´d make sure that was the last time it would cause any trouble. The virus was roaring inside to release another shockwave and knowing, it would be the last little step, he was holding it until he felt he might die from the sheer heat. Aiming well, he let go and the grotesque creature sank back to the bottom of the sea, gushes of it´s own blood accompanying it._

_The electricity blast was the last thing the already crumbling underwater lab needed. He felt the heat from all around him as he fell to his knees, the water rising to a dangerously high level. For a short moment he wondered how he might die. From the water, the virus or an explosion. Maybe you had these thoughts so calmly if you knew you can´t run from it anyways. But relief washed over him when he felt his eyelids closing all by themselves. So it was the virus he thought with content. Better than drowning after all._

_'Love you, Captain.' That was his goodbye. He lost consciousness._

_But the C-virus had it´s own way to deal with physical trauma. They learned that already in Edonia..._

His advanced hearing picked up the keys hitting the front door instantly. "Chris!" he yelled out and, in desperate search for the end of this PTSD attack, sprinted down the stairway in panic. Before Chris could even open the door fully, he felt the air leaving him as Piers collided with his chest. But being the well-trained man he was, it barely made him stumble a step backwards.

"What the hell? Piers?" The moment he looked down on the trembling sniper which clung onto him desperately, it hit him. The rain. Piers probably saw it. A flashback.

With the keys in his right and the briefcase in his other hand he stood a little awkward in the doorway. He tried gently pushing Piers inside with his bodyweight, which succeeded. "Ah- I´m sorry!" The younger one faltered and actually stepped back into the hallway, leaving an arm´s length between them. Piers still shivered. The fact that Chris´ coat was drenched from the rain probably hadn´t made things for him any better.

Calmly, Chris shut the door behind himself, drowning the once more accuring tapping sounds of little droplets outside. When he turned around again, Piers looked so lost, eyes glued to the ground, arms wrapped around himself, biting his lower lip. Chris took his time setting his luggage aside and shrugging the dark coat from his shoulders. They stood a moment in silence after he did before Chris actually wrapped his partner in a strong, calming hug.

"Hello to you, too..." came his reassuring voice. The one he knew calmed Piers rather fast. And indeed, he seemed to relax in his grip.

"It´s good to have you here, finally..." "Yeah, sorry, took a little longer today." Chris admitted guiltily. Maybe if he would have set that extra paperwork aside and came home earlier...

Piers shook his head meekly in the embrace and pushed away barely enough to be able to see Chris´ face. "...It´s fine, you´re here now..." Piers was aware that Chris knew what had happened. He had seen it himself a few times before. The nights when it would start thundering and raining really bad and he would cuddle closer to Chris of fear something would be triggered. And how Chris would wake up but pretend not to. And how he would just lay an arm around him and fall back asleep, Piers with him.

"You´re here now..." Piers repeated and they shared a kiss. The virus went back to being completely silent and his mind cleared from it´s panicked state.

After all, it was just Chris Redfield who had this effect on him.

Outside the rain ceased.


End file.
